Croatia failed to take advantage of having an extra man for 40 minutes as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Iceland in the first leg of their World Cup qualifying playoff in Reykjavik.

Olafor Skulason's 50th-minute dismissal gave Niko Kovac's men the chance to register an away goal to take back to Zagreb for the reverse fixture on Tuesday, but they could not take it.

Former Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva nearly gave the visitors a first-minute lead when he latched on to a Miralem Pjanic through pass and shot under the goalkeeper, only to see the ball cleared off the line.

Iceland's forward ventures were minimal, and although Gylfi Sigurdsson and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson linked up nicely at times, it resulted in little noteworthy goalmouth action for Lars Lagerback's side.

Sigthorsson, who has netted 13 times in 20 appearances for his country, was forced off at half time with what appeared to be a serious ankle injury, and was replaced by all-time top scorer Eidur Gudjohnsen.

However, most of the former Chelsea striker's work had to be done in a defensive capacity as Skulason's red card for bringing down Ivan Perisic, who was running clear, put Iceland firmly on the back foot.

Goalkeeper Hannes Por Halldorsson saved well from two Perisic efforts in the immediate follow up to Skulason's sending-off, but Croatia were then fairly unadventurous until the latter stages.

They had one final chance to establish a first-leg lead when Bayern Munich striker Mario Mandzukic nodded down for Perisic, whose 82nd-minute shot from the edge of the box curled just wide of the post.